396.1 GE/7–954
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State1
Memorandum of Conversation Between Ambassador Bonnet and the Secretary
The French Ambassador said that he had just received a message from Mendes-France asking him to thank me for my message (this is presumably the message based on the cable to Dillon of Thursday evening).2 He said that the sentiments there expressed made him wish more strongly than ever that I were going to be at Geneva. He felt it was very important that we should not give the Communists the impression that there was a rift between the 3 Western Powers.
I read to Bonnet the substance of the above-mentioned cable to Dillon, explaining that we feared that the French would want to recede to a point where we could not follow them and that this might put us in a position of seeming to break up the Conference. This would be deeply resented by French public opinion and might have disastrous long-range effects far worse than those which might result from our not coming back to Geneva at this time. The French Ambassador sought to argue that it would be otherwise. He ended by saying that he knew from the tone of the message he had received from Mendes-France that the latter really felt very strongly on this matter.3
- The log of the Secretary’s daily appointments indicates that this conversation occurred at 2:10 p.m. (Dulles papers, “Daily Appointments”)↩
- Telegram 85 to Paris, July 8, p. 1795.↩
- In telegram 119 from Paris, July 9, Ambassador Dillon reported that former Premier Reynaud had stated that it would be most regrettable if Secretary Dulles did not return to Geneva. Dillon added “During the course of the day, prominent men in Foreign Office, Government and Assembly, as well as leading French and foreign newspaper men, have also expressed hope that in interest of obtaining best possible terms from enemy, Secretary will change his mind and come to Geneva.” (396.1 GE/7–954)↩